Stratasys has announced a collaboration with entertainment legend Jay Leno, an avid car collector and founder of Big Dog Garage. As part of the partnership, Stratasys will provide Leno and his garage team with access to high-spec carbon fiber composite printers, assisting them in their efforts to maintain and restore Leno’s fleet of nearly 300 classic and rare vehicles.

Leno’s love of the automobile is well documented, with the former Tonight Show host following up his entertainment career with television series following Big Dog Garage maintaining his extensive collection, alongside regular columns in publications covering most things automotive.

With close to 300 vehicles to his name – a mix of eclectic oddities, sporty supercars and rare classics – Leno’s Black Dog Garage has its work cut out maintaining such a demanding collection. To date, it has used Stratasys’ additive manufacturing platform and print service to acquire drop-in replacement parts that otherwise would be unsourceable or impractical to fabricate by any other means, but this new stage in the companies partnership should take things further.

Now a beneficiary of Stratasys’ recently launched Performance Partner Program – a scheme bringing together innovators in high-performance autosport, aviation, and restoration – Big Dog Garage now has direct access to a Fortus 450mc carbon fiber composite printer. Leno explains: “As a lover of classic cars, I’m always looking to push the boundaries of what’s possible in creation and re-creation of these vehicles – and 3D printing is integral to this process,” adding “I’m really excited about this new Fortus machine and where it takes us next.”

Capable of printing Nylon 12CF (nylon with 12 percent chopped carbon fiber content), which boasts exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness, the machine seems ideally placed to fulfill the role of manufacturing on-demand end-use one-offs so commonly needed in classic car restoration.

Source: Businesswire

(Lead image source: Stratasys)